.23 Kerbal EVA - How do I reorient my kerbals (Pitch)

[SpaceToast]

Hello eveyone - quick question:

I did an eva yesterday (collecting science) using a mk1 pod. The kerbal fell off the ladder. As the pod was pointing prograde, when he let loose, the kerbal oriented north-south to the pod's east-west (in other words, the pod was sideways, and the kerbal's head was pointing at the ladder/hatch). I thought that reorienting the camera would cause the kerbal to reorient to match, but weirdly enough, he wouldn't in pitch. He could turn (yaw), translate up/down/left/right/forward/back, but not roll or pitch. Am I missing something, or is this a change? (I could have sworn in earlier versions of KSP that the kerbal could do these movements with the RCS pack.)

[SpaceToast]

I tried the "click-drag mouse" way, but as soon as I touch the rcs controls, the kerbal flips back to his original head/toe orientation. This is making EVA's really risky, as he can't grab the stupid ladder!

[Geschosskopf]

This is a bug that happens sometimes (it's been around a long time). Reorienting the camera with right-click + drag is SUPPOSED to reorient all EVA movement axes as well, but sometimes it just doesn't for pitch. Very annoying. I have no idea why, although it might be the EVA version of the same glitch that locks up the controls of a ship sometimes.

Anyway, when it happens to me, sometimes I can cure the problem by using [ and ] to switch to the ship and then back to the Kerbal.

There are 2 precautions you can take to minimize the problems this causes if it happens.

1. Before going on EVA, orient the ship so the parts you'll be dealing with on EVA are all visible so you don't have to fly around the ship, just move along it.

2. Put a probe core on EVERY ship. That way, if nothing else works, you can switch from the Kerbal to the ship and reorient the ship to bring a ladder into the same orientation as the Kerbal is stuck in.

[SpaceToast]

Good call on the probe core. Switching using the brackets didn't help.

[Kasuha]

Press V to change camera (FREE vs ORBITAL). The Kerbal will rotate 90 degrees which is enough to reach something you couldn't reach in the other mode.

[SpaceToast]

Kasuha - tried that. The little bugger would simply not change his pitch orientation. Every time I tried to grab the ladder, he would grab it, slip, go tumbling off for a while, then reorient "north/south".

[Mystique]

Try positioning your suited guinea piggy facing point of destination (like crew hatch), then rotating him with LMB+drag so that his face is parallere to hatch, then use shift/ctrl to slide him under the hatch without touching WSAD (or rotation will reset). I remember this worked once after patch, but I haven't tested it much.

[Kasuha]

Kasuha - tried that. The little bugger would simply not change his pitch orientation. Every time I tried to grab the ladder, he would grab it, slip, go tumbling off for a while, then reorient "north/south".

That's strange as it always works for me. Kerbal's helmet is always along the axis around which the camera rotates, so in orbital view it's along the planet's rotational axis (head North, legs South), and in free view it is legs towards the planet and head away from it. These two directions are the same only when you're in polar orbit near either of poles. And in that case all you need is to switch to free view and wait a bit till you get further from the pole.